Have you ever wanted to make sense of those squiggly lines in music books and master the art of musical performance? Now is your chance, when internationally renowned innovative music educator Duncan Lorien brings his virtual ground-breaking Understanding Music Seminar to Canberra on 16-18 September.

Lorien has been teaching music since he was eight years old when he discovered an aptitude for imparting his knowledge. School friends would come over and he would be able to teach them much more easily than their parents or music teachers could.

Soon, parents were begging to know how he was doing it. By the time he was 14, Lorien had 37 students, increasing to 165 by age 16.

“I found that I had an aptitude to impart my knowledge on to them. This is not what I set out to do in my life; it is what life kind of decided for me,” Lorien said.

Now his music seminars have had over 40,000 successful graduates with Lorien saying he is yet to have a single student who couldn’t learn to play music. After all his time teaching, he believes it is scientific proof that there is no such thing as somebody who can’t learn music. 

“It comes down to the willingness to be happy to reinvent the wheel, not rest on one’s laurels that’s been a big part of the success,” Lorien said.

Guests won’t see Lorien in person in this time around. Like many other fields, his business has been impacted by the pandemic and has switched to an online delivery method. Students have been reacting well to the new delivery method. He believes the close-up angles and the thousands of slides to describe methods has helped people learn the concepts even more readily. However, the Larry Sitsky Recital room at ANU will still beam with the light, humorous vibe that Lorien sets for all his classes. He believes laughter is the best method of teaching.  

At the end of the three days, attendees will leave with the knowledge of reading classical music. They will be able to understand the composition behind the works of composers such as Mozart and Bach.

“No one is making promises you can sit down at the end of three days and be a concert pianist,” he said.

While Lorien knows ‘Understanding Music Seminar’ isn’t the sexiest title in the world, he said it does deliver what it says. Participants will learn the mechanics behind the subject – how to get through the theory that is stopping you from playing your chosen instrument. Lorien says once you understand the theory, you can focus on playing.

After the seminar ends, the theory is done, and participants will have that knowledge for life. Next up, hopeful instrument players need to build muscle memory and dexterity. He recommends playing for a short amount of time, often. Just 10 minutes at least once a day will be far more beneficial than trying to force yourself to learn for hours at a time. To help attendees with this, the seminar comes with 100 free lessons to take home.

“I discovered years ago that learning the keyboard, people have a bell curve. The first seven or eight minutes are peak focus, after that the levels drop off. It’s far better to do 10 minutes, have a cuppa, come back and do another 10,” he said.

According to Lorien, understanding rhythm is the biggest downfall for many people, they are often wanting to play so much that they end up sacrificing the accuracy of pitch. His seminar helps people understand the difficult subject of pitch, when they play, they will be able to identify the right pitch on the paper and their instrument.

“Music is to be human. It’s perhaps one of the easiest art forms to express yourself in and it opens the door to so much else, “

Being on the East coast of America means Lorien will be starting the lessons at 5pm his time going through until the early hours of the next morning. The late nights don’t worry Lorien, he loves to see his students succeed in learning how to read and play music. Hearing people say they have been able to conquer music makes it all worth it for Lorien.

“The day I lose the passion is the day I stop doing what I do.”

To register for the Understanding Music Seminar at ANU on 16-18 September, visit understandingmusicseminar.com.au

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